When you have to pay for something like insurance, it’s important that you take advantage of all of the benefits that you can. If you’ve got homeowner’s insurance, here are some things that you may not have realized are covered under your policy:

Spoiled Food

Most homeowner’s policies will cover the loss of up to $500 in food if you have a power outage and your refrigerator and/or freeze stops working.

Dog Bites

If your dog bites someone and causes that person injury, your policy should cover that person’s medical expenses – even if the bite didn’t happen on your property. A lot of policies will also pay for legal expenses if that injury results in a lawsuit.

Kids and Their Stuff at College

Your policy should cover anyone in your household as well as anyone under 24 who is attending college full time. But some policies aren’t crystal clear about whether this applies only to students living in dorms, so you’ll want to double check your policy to be sure.

Identity Theft

Being a victim of identity theft can be very scary and stressful. But luckily, many homeowner’s policies will reimburse you for expenses that you incur when trying to resolve an identity theft case. These expenses could include things like travel costs, wages lost at work and/or attorney’s fees. Some policies even cover things like babysitting and elder care if you need them while you resolve the case. Just take note:

In many cases, identity theft coverage is not part of the standard HO-3, but a special endorsement. But such endorsements are often routinely included without homeowners even knowing it. Check your policy.

Your Bike (even 3,000 Miles from Home)

A lot of policies will include “off premises” coverage for your personal property. So, for example:

One Wise Bread IT staffer discovered the value of this when his very pricey touring bicycle was stolen midway through his cross-country bike tour – all the way on the other side of the continent. He called his agent, and soon he had the funds to replace the bike and continue pedaling.

Lesson learned here? Check your policy! It would be a shame to not take full advantage of the benefits of something that you pay for.

Learn more over at Wise Bread’s 8 Surprising Things Covered by Homeowner’s Insurance.